Citation

Park J, Ebert SM, Reed MP, Hallman JJ. Ergonomics 2015; 59(6): 796-805.

Affiliation

a Biosciences Group, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2015.1088076

PMID

26328769

Abstract

Few statistical models of rear-seat passenger posture have been published and none has taken into account the effects of occupant age. The present study developed new statistical models for predicting passenger postures in the rear seats of automobiles. Postures of 89 adults with a wide range of age and body size were measured in a laboratory mock-up in 7 seat configurations. Posture-prediction models for female and male passengers were separately developed by stepwise regression using age, body dimensions, seat configurations, and two-way interactions as potential predictors. Passenger posture was significantly associated with age and the effects of other two-way interaction variables depended on age. A set of posture-prediction models are presented for women and men and the prediction results are compared with previously published models. The present study is the first study of passenger posture to include a large cohort of older passengers and the first to report a significant effect of age for adults. The presented models can be used to position computational and physical human models for vehicle design and assessment. Practitioner Summary: The significant effects of age, body dimensions, and seat configuration on rear seat passenger posture were identified. The models can be used to accurately position computational human models or crash test dummies for older passengers in known rear-seat configurations.

Language: en